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The People's Liberation Army is one of five factions in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. The PLA, commanded by Colonel Zhou Peng, has been ordered by China's leadership to invade North Korea, with the objective being to defeat the Korean People's Army and set up a pro-Chinese regime in North Korea. Ultimately, North Korea is to be annexed into the People's Republic of China. This naturally puts the PLA at odds with both Korean nations-South and North. The People's Liberation Army is massive and has access to a staggering array of firepower; no other nation besides North Korea deploys as many main battle tanks in the game or can rival the PLA's number of soldiers. The PLA has deployed a great deal of field and air-defense artillery to support its frontline infantry and armored forces, and extend this considerable long-range firepower to the mercenary for a price. However, if the mercenary is on a contract from the Chinese, a number of calls for artillery fire and logistics support are frequently offered, and if they are, there is no fee.

"China is a vast and powerful nation," Colonel Peng says, early in the game when he is first meeting the mercenary sent by Executive Operations. The upside of this is that the PLA is a massive force that both Koreas have great difficulty opposing; the downside is that "the People's Army is large and slow to rouse", meaning it can take time- sometimes more than is acceptable- for the PLA to mobilize forces and respond to a threat or problem. High-precision actions taken on short notice are not what the PLA forces sent to North Korea are best equipped to handle. Realizing that the mercenary is an effective counter to this weakness of his country's army, Colonel Peng frequently sends the player on assassination, VIP extraction, and other missions requiring a highly competent operative and a more delicate touch than the PLA can usually do. Given that China is extremely unfriendly to the North Koreans and South Koreans alike- both Koreas have goals in the conflict that are at odds with China's- working for the Chinese often involves going up against NK or SK forces. Offered contracts will occasionally send the mercenary against the Russian Mafia as well, but unlike the two Koreas, whom Colonel Peng takes seriously, the PLA holds the Russian mob in contempt and sees them as an annoyance, scavengers to be crushed in a war being fought by proper soldiers.

Chinese flag as seen from the 'Factions' tab of the PDA

Although officially part of the Allied coalition, the Chinese forces operate independently and do not follow the standard AN equipment patterns - they wear winter/urban camouflage gear and use Type 56 assault rifles, Type 69 RPGs, and RPD machine guns extensively. PLA Officers carry Type-85 SMGs and some PLA Soldiers carry heavier weapons, such as Anti-Tank and Anti-Air missiles. Some specialized soldiers will also carry Sniper Rifles. Being the largest single military force in the world, the PLA has access to some exceptionally powerful vehicles - these include a wide range of heavily-armed APCs, and more main battle tanks than any other faction in the game. Chinese forces possess more mechanized ground forces than any other faction in the game, rivaled only by the Korean People's Army- going to war with the PLA is not a very attractive idea. In addition to its enormous firepower in field artillery, the PLA supplies the Fuel Air Bomb air strike. The army, however, does not have much in the way of airpower, only having one helicopter gunship: the WZ-9 transport/light support helicopter. In this area, the North Koreans and Allied Nations are both stronger, possessing greater numbers of better-armed helicopters.

The Chinese goal of annexing North Korea puts them in an increasingly-antagonistic position with the South Koreans. There is a tense truce in the Southern Province during the first half of the game, but even then the Chinese and South Koreans are both willing to use the mercenary to take shots at each other. By the time the second half of the game sees the fighting move to the Northern Province, the diplomatic situation between the PRC and the ROK has worsened, and before the game ends hostilities escalate into all-out war. The People's Liberation Army is engaged in bitter fighting with the Republic of Korea Army by the game's end, fighting at a considerable advantage with greater numbers and more armored vehicles.

The People's Liberation Army make a return in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames with the intent to install a pro-Chinese government in Venezuela and protect Chinese interests. They originally funded and used the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela as a proxy. However, it became clear that their leader, Marcela Acosta, was unable (or unwilling) to overthrow Solano's government. At the same time, the United States under the name of the Allied Nations intend on taking the oil for themselves. The PLA, under the command of the newly promoted General Peng, are under orders to seize control of the country and oil reserves. In Mercenaries 2, their HQ is the Castle of Saint Anthony and they control most of Cumana.

The PLA has arguably a smaller but denser and stronger armored presence than the Allied Nations, this can be noticed by trying to force one's way through Chinese territory in comparison to doing to same against the Allied Nations. The PLA has an abundance of constantly mobile Tempered Hammer Artillery self propelled artillery, Salamander APCs and Leaping Fox GLs constantly patrolling their HQ vicinity, They provide a very effective buffer for any gound attack. The main PLA base and PLA HQ are heavily defended with Iron Dove Heavy AAs making a succesful hostile air approach very hard. The PLA also has many Bladesong Missile Boats patroling on the Eastern side of Venezuela (anywhere East of Caracas).

It seems that the PLA have taken control of Isla de Margarita, they have a surprisingly strong position on the island and are using its dock for their Dynasty Class Missile Destroyer. It is not revealed why the PLA have taken over the Island other than it is a staging ground for operations on the mainland.